NatGeo Goes (Back) Into Space for Mars Season 2

By
S.C. Stuart9 Nov 2018, noon

Season two takes place in a fully-functioning Mars colony, but you can't escape human drama, even on the Red Planet. We talk to Stephen Petranek, who wrote the book the series is based on, and actor Sammi Rotibi, who plays Dr. Robert Foucault.

In advance of the Nov. 12 season two premiere of NatGeo's Mars, we sat down with Stephen Petranek, a co-executive producer and author of How We'll Live on Mars, on which the series is based; and Sammi Rotibi, who stars on screen as Dr. Robert Foucault, mechanical engineer and roboticist.

Mars, which premiered in November 2016 on the National Geographic Channel and also counts Brian Grazer and Ron Howard as producers, is an interesting TV hybrid. Spliced into the scripted drama is documentary-style talking head commentary from the likes of Elon Musk, theoretical physicist Michio Kaku, and former NASA chief Ellen Stofan, who discuss space travel developments like asteroid mining and their Earth analog equivalents (North Sea oil drilling).

Mars season 1 was set in the not-too-distant future of 2033. The fictional Daedalus spacecraft took off from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center with an international crew and landed six months later on the Red Planet. Season two takes place several years later. What's known as Olympus Town is now fully-functioning, which means there's plenty of interpersonal relationship drama, as well as great exploratory exo-science going on.

Tension mounts in a conflict between public and private enterprise. Lukrum Corporation has now arrived on the Red Planet, providing a much-needed cash injection in return for running lucrative mining operations. What was once an international space federation mission, forging scientific discoveries for the good of mankind, is now facing the financial realities of colonization.

Petranek got involved in the show when Jon Kamen, a partner in production company Radical Media, saw him give a TED Talk on Mars and asked to see a draft of what later became How We'll Live on Mars. Kamen then "called me up in the middle of the night and said: 'This is amazing, it's essentially a script for a documentary,'" Petranek told PCMag. "When Ron Howard, and Fox Television/National Geographic Channels got involved, it moved beyond that, into a series, and now we're here at season two."

To land his role, meanwhile, Rotibi was asked by the director to audition via Skype.

"One of the things he asked me to do, on that call, was pretend to record a video message from Mars to send back to my mother on Earth," Rotibi said. "He had no way of knowing that, really sadly, my own mother had just passed away not long before that, so I was a wreck. In a way [the audition] was me saying goodbye to my mom in real life."

It's always tricky portraying a person of great intelligence in a popular culture product. There are multiple uber-geek cliches to avoid, and Rotibi was aware of those pitfalls. Despite getting expert input from NASA personnel, he had to find his own way into the character.

"I remember I was on the set in Budapest, and NatGeo Networks put me in touch with Bobby Braun, former Chief Technologist at NASA, to help research my role," Rotibi said. "We spoke briefly on the phone and he said: 'Your character is the nerdy one, the brain, and he doesn't really associate with people.' But I thought, if I play him like that, no one is going to enjoy watching it. I needed to find a point of connection."

There are many astro-pundits advising the series' creators, and a few of them have actually been into space.

"Dr. Mae Jemison was an advisor on the first series," Rotibi told us. "And she basically talked about her experience, endeavors—about how people get when they're confined to a tight space together—how they move. The physical element slowly allowed me to embody Robert Foucault. Once you start wearing the character's shoes, you become them."

Petranek did extensive research to flesh out what these next-gen humans, like Foucault, will be like.

"Genetics is moving at a very rapid pace," he said. "We are approaching the point where we can change the genetics in any human in real time. So, if the main problem on Mars is radiation, and we have already found people on Earth who are more resistant to solar radiation, and cosmic rays, than others, then we can copy those genes and insert them in a person traveling to Mars."

Through gene editing, as Petranek explained, we can change the genetics of the people who are based on a future Mars colony, making them more adaptable to the hostile environment.

"We could even, conceivably, not with our present physiology, but in the future, develop humans who could breathe a higher percentage of carbon dioxide, than the 5 or 6 percent which will make you pass out today. Then we'll see people who are essentially Martian, because their genetics have been changed, and we'll probably end up with a subset of people who would have difficulty returning to live on Earth because they've evolved to cope with just 38 percent gravity."

There's a lot of material to draw on—and create fictional drama around—so is there likely to be a season three? Petranek wouldn't divulge the end date on his contract, but it's clear he's got more stories to tell.

"There would be no problem coming up with more scenarios [for another season]," he said. "But the most interesting thing about continuing the series is how our belief system about going to Mars keeps changing. There are more and more people on Earth who used to say: 'What are you talking about? Going to Mars!' who are, now, beginning to get it."

We're getting ever closer to becoming an interplanetary species. Elon Musk, whom Petranek interviewed extensively, has pledged to send the first cargo mission to Mars in 2022. Mirroring the plot of the NatGeo series, Musk sees SpaceX's next goals as building a propellant depot and preparing for future crew flights, laying the groundwork (literally) to build a self-sustaining civilization on Mars.

While we're waiting for a flight to the Red Planet, let the second series of Mars explore the question of whether we'll do any better on another planet than we've managed to do on this one. No spoiler alerts, but clearly it's not going to be a smooth ride when we join our robotic explorer cousins already up there.